Alliance For Footsoldiers Advocacy (AFFA), a Foot soldiers voluntary association of the New Patriotic Party across the 275 constituencies in the country is appealing to the government to consider the foot soldiers in some of the appointments that they will make.
According to the Group, the time has come for the NPP to strive beyond normal to reduce apathy within the ranks by empowering the grassroots, hence making a passionate appeal to President Akufo-Addo to hear the cry of NPP foot soldiers.
The group also plead with the President to appoint persons who do not only have the qualifications but also have the grassroots at heart since their efforts and support for the grassroots and the Party has proven to be better than the NDC in all spheres of nation-building.
The Group Spokesman, John Davis, popularly known as Opeimu Woyome addressing a presser in Accra said, “AFFA is an oasis of hope for the voiceless; we are here to champion the welfare of foot soldiers to help break the 8-year jinx of the two leading political parties in Ghana”.
Explaining the reasons behind their cry, he said it is rather unfortunate that party foot soldiers who do all the grounds work; paste posters, mount banners; embark on outreaches and door-to-door campaigns, entering ghetto-to-ghetto; filling rally grounds, joining demonstrations, defending the party on all media platforms are oftentimes sidelined when appointments are being made.
He added that the era where party grassroots were used as “election machines” and abandoned afterwards is and must be over.
“It’s high time the voices of foot soldiers are well-considered and captured in the decision making and governance process,” the Spokesman stated.
John Davis expressed worry that the Party only remember foot soldiers during the electioneering campaign and that attitude must stop now.
He explained that one of the major reasons why the Ghanaian voter since 1992 tends to change the mandate of the NPP regardless of its superior performance to the NDC is primarily because of the neglect of party footsoldiers.
He said the parliamentary results of the December 7, 2020 election must be a wake-up call for all of us, adding that they can’t afford to allow power to slip from our hands in 2024.
The group further indicated that “there are some immediate past appointees, current and former party executives who have demonstrated immeasurable commitment, sacrifices, and support to NPP foot soldiers and it is our solemn wish and hope that the President considers them for re-appointment”.
Thus indicating that the party records in the past must be a guiding principle: despite all the good works by the Kufuor administration between 2001-2009, the Ghanaian people decided to remove the NPP from office, which was the simple reason why the NPP lost the 2008 election was because of voter apathy.
He said another reason was that the NPP foot soldiers who felt marginalized at the time simply did not go out to vote and the few who did vote against us which was a sacrosanct fact.
“Until we in the NPP appreciate the basic denominator, that scoring “A”s in all the Key Performance Indicators in good governance is meaningless unless it commiserates with the foot soldier’s welfare, it will be difficult to make headway” the group stated.
The group, however, tasked the Government appointees to make it a sacrosanct obligation to bring foot soldiers close to them; give them jobs, support their businesses, sponsor them to acquire skills or learn a trade, make scholarships available for them to acquire higher learning and they will forever be indebted to the NPP.
